Chapter 1306: Forcefully Clearing the Tribulation
Xiao Chen showed no emotion. His expression turned frighteningly cold. He drained the tea in the teacup he held. Then, he said indifferently, "Go, then. Demon Monarch Leng Yue, remember you owe me, the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen, a favor!"
The other party could still smile when heartless. However, Xiao Chen could not do it no matter how he tried.
Are we leaving?
However, Yao Manlan felt that it was somewhat strange. The atmosphere seemed somewhat off.
Leng Yue"s heart bled, but she still maintained a bright smile. She stood up and said, "The Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen is indeed generous. After meeting you today, I find that you truly live up to your reputation. This Monarch will remember this favor."
"Whoos.h.!.+"
Leng Yue carried off Yao Manlan, evincing no reluctance at all, leaving at the drop of a hat and showing no intent to even turn her head back and take one last look.
Xiao Chen"s final hope fell through. "Bang!" The teacup in his hand shattered. The shards pierced his palm. Blood slowly flowed out, a startling crimson.
Xiao Chen did not have many friends. Friends who had been through life and death with him were even fewer. Since they were friends, he would naturally not mind the other party"s status.
Back then, they said that they would meet again if it was fated. Unexpectedly, this was the situation after they met again.
Actually, given Xiao Chen"s eyes and his cautious nature, he should have noticed that instant where Leng Yue"s expression changed. However, for some reason, something put his heart in turmoil. He was the clearest about what it was; however, he was not willing to admit it.
There were some things that might seem vague. Nevertheless, they were very real and unforgettable.
---
In the distance, Leng Yue traveled through the void as she carried Yao Manlan. Originally, she planned to return directly to the Demonic World, but she suddenly stopped. She landed by the sea, unable to contain her expression anymore.
She covered her face with her hands and knelt down in pain.
"Master…" Yao Manlan had a strange sour feeling. By now, she had already figured out that her most beloved master had a past with this Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen.
However, how could Eros Demons fall in love? Furthermore, with the Azure Dragon King Xiao Chen. He was someone who would become a powerful enemy of the Demonic World when he became a Martial Emperor.
After a long time, Leng Yue got back up. Her face seemed tear-stained. However, her expression had already recovered, back to that of a Demon Monarch, dignified and cold.
"Feng Ziyi acted on his own this time, thinking that if he obtained the Sky Dome Heart, the Winged Demon"s Demon Monarch would look at him in a different light. However, he did not know that he committed a great taboo. If he managed to obtain the Sky Dome Heart, it would have been fine. However, he failed. Now, his royal father already locked him in the Demon Prison."
This revelation startled Yao Manlan when she heard it. She forgot about the earlier event and could not help asking, "Then what about the Amber Heart that he promised me?"
Without a word, a tricolor amber that looked very alluring appeared in Leng Yue"s palm. "I asked the Winged Demon"s Demon Monarch for it. What"s yours will become yours in the end."
"Master, I was wrong," Yao Manlan said with a lowered head as tears welled up in her eyes.
Leng Yue whispered, "You were not wrong. You just met someone whom you should not have met."
"Who is he?" Yao Manlan asked after drumming up some courage.
"He is the person that this Monarch wishes to meet the least in this life, and also the person that this Monarch wishes to meet the most in this life."
Wishes the least and the most. This seemed contradictory, yet it also felt somewhat not contradictory.
Suddenly, Leng Yue"s expression changed. She carried Yao Manlan and hid the auras on their bodies, leaping into the sea with a splash and hiding there.
Soon, a strong wind blew. A white figure arrived on clouds at lightning speed.
This figure landed and stood on the sea, looking into the distance as though he was searching for something.
Peering through the cold water, Leng Yue clearly saw the appearance of that figure. It was Xiao Chen, who had given chase from Qingyun Peak.
"Plop! Plop!"
Fresh blood dripped continuously from Xiao Chen"s right hand. The wound on his palm looked very scary. Leng Yue felt a strange pang in her heart as she looked up. He showed a bitter smile on his face as his lips moved like he was saying something.
"I, Xiao Chen, have never judged another"s character wrong. Am I truly wrong this time?"
Within the water, Leng Yue held her hands to her mouth. She could not hold back her tears, letting them flow as much as they wanted.
After Xiao Chen looked into the distance, his emotions fluctuated. He revealed a self-mocking smile. He already guessed the result but still foolishly ran here, hoping to be able to see the scene that he antic.i.p.ated.
After a long time, Xiao Chen slowly calmed down and said to himself, "I"ll take it as my misjudgment. However, thank you for that one year or so. Goodbye."
He pushed off with his feet gently, and his figure flashed. In a few blinks, he vanished from where he had been, quickly heading to the deepest part of the sea.
Xiao Chen wanted to undergo his tribulation—the Lightning Tribulation to break through to the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation"s eighth layer—to forget this unhappy memory in the midst of thousands of lightning bolts, completely erasing it from memory.
"Splas.h.!.+"
Water splashed up. Leng Yue and Yao Manlan leaped out of the water. As Leng Yue stared into the distance, she did not say a word for a long time.
Leng Yue"s gaze seemed to be able to see very far into the distance, able to see that Xiao Chen really headed for the Deep Sea without looking back. She could tell from his hectic pace that he was decisive and determined, not showing any reluctance to leave.
"Master, he is pretty good. Why did you not come out?" Yao Manlan whispered. When honestly looking at Xiao Chen, she found that the Azure Dragon King was indeed a really charming person.
Leng Yue muttered, "The better he is, the more I should not see him. Great chaos is arriving soon. Don"t you know that after this great tribulation, only the Demonic World or the Kunlun Realm can survive? This is fate; no one can avoid it. I will eventually meet him on the battlefield."
"What is he doing now? Is he going to give chase to Demonic World?" Yao Manlan whispered.
Leng Yue felt worried in her heart. She shook her head and said, "It does not look like it. He still can"t go to our Demonic World"s lair in the Sky Dome Realm. Manlan, go back by yourself first. I"ll follow him and take a look."
Yao Manlan nodded gently. She knew that after her master made this decision, she would not be able to change her master"s mind.
---
Amid strong winds, Xiao Chen landed on the surface of the sea. There were many desolate sea regions in the vast Deep Sea, completely uncountable.
There were many places he could choose for undergoing his tribulation. He did not hesitate, quickly landing on one of the desolate islands.
This island was completely barren. Aside from rocks and tall mountains, there was nothing else.
Xiao Chen should have undergone this Lightning Tribulation to break through to the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation"s eighth layer three years ago. He postponed it until now because he wanted to play it safe.
Now, he possessed a half-step Golden Body and condensed the Heart of an Emperor, which allowed him to cultivate Primordial Energy. It would now be easy for him to clear the Lightning Tribulation that he should have cleared three years ago. It would be like fighting himself from three years ago, able to kill his opponent as simply as blowing off dust.
No matter how many Lightning Tribulations there would be, Xiao Chen did not fear them. He only feared the final one with the Heart Tribulation. There were too many variables with the tribulations of Heart Demons.
Previously, when he underwent his Lightning Tribulation, he fell at the last one during the Heart Tribulation. He managed to clear it only because Ao Jiao made a move to help.
"Ao Jiao, this time, don"t ever make a move. Otherwise, even if I succeed in clearing the tribulation, my Heart Demon will accompany me for life," Xiao Chen said seriously.
Ao Jiao nodded inside the Immortal Spirit Ring. I know. Previously, I was too involved. If I make a move this time, your Heart Demon will become even more severe. However…
A trace of worry flashed in Ao Jiao"s eyes. Was this really the right time to undergo the tribulation?
Naturally, there was nothing to fear from the Lightning Tribulation. With Xiao Chen"s half-step Golden Body, he would be able to clear the Lightning Tribulation safely and break through into the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation"s eighth layer. There should not be any surprises on that point.
However, it would be hard to say for the final wave with the Heart Tribulation. While in the Sky Dome Realm, Xiao Chen suffered from two setbacks. First was Liu Ruyue leaving this abandoned land with her fate uncertain.
The other was now, after making a misjudgment, his confidence even started to waver.
Taking the tribulation was not right, simply not right. Ao Jiao wanted to advise against it but could not do anything against Xiao Chen"s determined heart. Saying anything more would be useless.
Before the words came out, she sighed and swallowed them back down.
"Let"s begin!"
Xiao Chen crushed an Essence Stone in his hand. The pure, surging Spiritual Energy headed for the purple whirlpool at his dantian, gus.h.i.+ng towards it.
Unlike before, he did not send the absorbed energy into the Heart of an Emperor. He simply let that whirlpool absorb the vast Spiritual Energy.
"Boom!" The long-suppressed whirlpool did not endure for long before it exploded.
This speed was somewhat outside Xiao Chen"s expectations. It showed that the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation"s seventh layer had already reached its limits long ago and needed to break through. It was like a barrel of explosives. With just a spark, it produced a huge explosion.
With the explosion in Xiao Chen"s body, countless thunderclouds filled the sky for five hundred kilometers around. They were like a vast army charging towards him, gathering above his heart.
This mysterious phenomenon startled Leng Yue, who was hidden in the distance. Xiao Chen was undergoing a tribulation. However, it was not the Great Tribulation of wind and fire but a Lightning Tribulation. This somewhat put her at ease.
"Even if he was going to undergo a tribulation, he should not have done it at this time!" Leng Yue said as she bit her lips, feeling somewhat aggrieved and blaming herself at the same time.
If she had known that Xiao Chen was going to undergo his tribulation, she would not have acted so heartlessly. What would she do if Xiao Chen got injured in the Lightning Tribulation?
Whether Leng Yue was willing or not, this matter had already happened and the Lightning Tribulation already started.
"Boom!"
The first bolt of lightning descended. Xiao Chen cheerfully endured it. Following that, lightning struck endlessly in rapid succession, not giving him any time for a breather.
After one hundred bolts of lightning, Xiao Chen used his Primordial Energy to erect a s.h.i.+eld to protect his body.
He knew from experience that this was just an appetizer. The main course had yet to arrive. Previously, it was three nines—nine hundred ninety-nine different bolts of Divine Lightning—inflicting so much pain that he wanted to die. It tortured him half to death, nearly turning his physical body into mush.
However, this time was still fine. Xiao Chen"s strength had already undergone a metamorphosis. He was using the strength of a Martial Emperor to endure a Lightning Tribulation at a quasi-Emperor"s level.
As Xiao Chen expected, after one hundred bolts of lightning, various kinds of Divine Lightning appeared.
Some manifested as weapons, turning into sabers, spears, swords, staffs, and other lightning weapons and materializing all sorts of killing moves as they descended from the sky.
Some turned into ferocious beasts, roaring towards the sky and charging over.
Some turned into Secret Treasures, simulating all sorts of might to crush Xiao Chen.
Some turned into mountain peaks, majestic and grand, or endless and continuous, or unexpectedly sharp, trying to press down on him.
The protective s.h.i.+eld endured three-hundred-odd kinds of Divine Lightning before it shattered.
Xiao Chen drew his Lunar Shadow Saber and started to fight head-on with the bolts of Divine Lightning, executing the skills he learned to counter this continuous barrage.
Although this bombardment was very hair-raising and incomparably dangerous, Xiao Chen proceeded steadily. Everything was within control. He still had many trump cards that he had not used yet.
"Three nines are over already. It looks like it will be four nines of Divine Lightning this time, a total of nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine bolts."
Xiao Chen calculated in his heart. At the same time, he marveled at the ridiculousness of the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. If he were only as strong as a quasi-Emperor, he would very likely die trying to clear this Lightning Tribulation, unable to hold out until the Heart Tribulation arrived.